Judge in Mississippi challenges state flag

When Carlos E. Moore became a part-time municipal judge in Clarksdale, Miss., his first order of business was to remove the state flag from his courtroom.

The banner, adopted in 1894 and retained by Mississippi voters in a 2001 referendum, features the Confederate battle flag in its upper left corner and has been a continuing source of controversy, especially for AfricanAmericans such as Moore.

“That flag — I do not believe it stands for justice,” the 40-yearold lawyer said in an interview last week. “I did not want it standing behind me as I tried to administer justice.”

In fact, Moore would like to eliminate the flag all together. He has ignored death threats and asked the Supreme Court to intervene in what so far has been an unsuccessful federal lawsuit claiming the flag promotes white supremacy and violates the equal-protection rights of black Mississippians.

It seems it would be a substantial lift to ask the Supreme Court to tell a state it cannot fly the flag it favors. Even Moore’s lawyer, Philadelphia attorney Michael T. Scott, acknowledges there is no reason to think the court is particularly anxious to join the national debate over what should be done about the nation’s lingering memorials to the Confederate States of America.

The state of Mississippi did not bother to file a response to Moore’s Supreme Court petition. But the court last month told the state it wanted to know more, and to file a brief.

“So at least somebody at the Supreme Court does not think it is frivolous,” Moore said.

Moore’s petition to the court says that the “message in Mississippi’s flag has always been one of racial hostility and insult.” It encourages violence, Moore alleges.